Olympic Peninsula cougars having the highest level of inbreeding
This can be a HUGE issue for this locality of cougar population. This can also mean many other things as far as an unhealthy ecosystem is not able to support genetic flow, causing them to be forced to inbreed with each other.
Genetic data can contribute critical knowledge on how carnivores respond to environmental changes and anthropogenic impacts, as we have demonstrated, but it can also help inform harvest guidelines, identify appropriately-sized and objective management units, and identify areas that may be acting as sources or sinks.
Its important for us to understand this because if we can figure out what is causing restricted gene flow it can help the survival of this species to continue.
This is most likely the case in this study system since we found evidence for male philopatry, which has been also observed in cougar populations in Florida and California where habitat fragmentation led to constrained or unsuccessful dispersal attempts
This isn't surprising considering how developed Florida and California are.
Signals of restricted gene flow in this study were most pronounced in Olympic Peninsula cougars.
What is causing this?
The BayesAss analysis revealed that most cougars remained within their putative natal population or were killed before they reached another area
This could be a good thing as far as showing signs that the area they are in have a stable population of food for cougars so there is no need to migrate, this could relate to the marginal value theorem like we went over in chapter 5. This could also mean they are restricted to one area because of development which is why they were killed before they could reach another area.
Our aims were to characterize large-scale population structure and assess if cougars could be at risk of genetic isolation and/or inbreeding depression.
I wonder if this is something other large predator populations face in the wild.
Given the impacts that habitat loss, fragmentation, and urbanization have on genetic diversity and connectivity of wildlife populations
This is something that is seen too often unfortunately.
The benefits of conservation and management of large carnivores such as cougars are far-reaching in that their presence contributes to keeping prey populations physically healthy by removing older and weakened animals and keeping prey densities commensurate with habitat quality (Terborgh and Estes 2013).
Very interesting. Its important we have not only a sufficient population of prey but we also have stable populations of predators to keep healthy genetics in prey populations.
We find that venom composition and arsenal of toxin-producing cells change dramatically between developmental stages of this species.
Interesting that venom changes as the animal grows.